Chicken & Potato Soup

with carrots and green beans

A simple, cozy, homemade chicken soup that’ll help you feel better when the chill of autumn (and all the annoying illnesses it brings) settles upon you.

My (young adult) son was feeling under the weather last week. Not horribly sick, but stuffed up, sapped of energy and feeling just overall kind of yucky. A doctor I had years ago used to call it “the crud”. Except for me, back then whenever I had “the crud”, it always ended up in a sinus infection. My son was lucky … he was just mildly congested. I could definitely tell he was sick because he didn’t have the energy to get things done like he normally does. He didn’t offer up any of his normal rants or stories or interesting facts that he usually likes to share with me. And his overly sensitive sense of smell was obviously impaired. I noticed I could cook things that he normally hates the scent of without the slightest hint of complaint or avoidance from him (where typically he has to go downstairs or open the windows to escape the scent).

So I offered to cook him some soup. I totally expected he would want some tomato soup (canned, because he’ll only ever eat canned tomato soup) or our Buttered Noodle Chicken Noodle Soup (with extra noodles) like he usually does, but he said he’s trying to eat healthier and he feels like the big pile of noodles with a bit of broth wasn’t really all that healthy, especially because he never really ate the broth. He pondered for a while, then he asked how about a chicken & potato soup, with some veggies. He’s quite particular about veggies, but he thought maybe soup would be a better way to get more veggies into his diet. We talked for a while and I suggested different vegetables I thought might be acceptable. We’d kind of settled on carrots and peas, when out of the blue, he asked if we had any green beans. Well yes, we did have green beans in the freezer that had come from Gramma’s garden. He faintly remembered liking green beans, ages ago. I recalled that yes, green beans were one of his favorite foods as a kid. And so, we ditched the peas and decided to try green beans instead.

I went to work making up a nice pot of chicken and potato soup. Luckily, we already had a bunch of chicken thighs thawed that I’d planned to grill up that night. I pilfered two of those for the foundation of this comfy little soup.

He was quite pleased with the soup and ate about half the batch for dinner. His only comment was that I could reduce the potatoes slightly, so I’ve adjusted the recipe from two medium/large potatoes to two small-ish medium potatoes. Of course, you can adjust the number/size of potatoes to your own liking.

To accompany the soup, I made some sourdough garlic knots out of some of the French roll dough we had in the fridge (inspired by my friend Claudia at What’s Cookin’ Italian Cuisine).

The coolest thing is I know he really liked the soup because he ate the rest of it the following day. I was so glad I took the opportunity to take pictures before the second helping so I could share it with you (and our future selves).

Chicken & Potato Soup with Carrots & Green Beans

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 2 - 4 servings 1x

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Ingredients

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• 2 chicken thighs, bone in
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 of a large onion, peeled & chopped
• 2 – 4 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled & chopped
• 1 quart chicken broth (or 1 quart water + 2 1/2 – 3 teaspoons of chicken better than bouillon)
• 2 small-ish medium red potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks (peeled if desired)
• 1 bay leaf
• About 1/2 cup fresh or frozen green beans, chopped (or more, to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute or your favorite no-salt seasoning (or to taste)
• Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

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Instructions

1. Remove the skin from the thighs, if it’s there, then cut most of the meat off the bones. Chop the chicken meat into small pieces, removing anything that looks like it doesn’t belong in your soup. Save the bones for later.
2. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil, then the chicken meat. Cook just until seared and still pink in the middle, then remove the chicken from the pan (leaving the oil) and add the onion and garlic. Saute for several minutes or until the onion is soft and translucent and the garlic is fragrant.
3. Add the carrots and saute for a few minutes longer, then stir in the broth, potatoes, chicken bones and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart, about 30 minutes.
4. Stir in the green beans, seared chicken and seasonings. Cook until the green beans are tender and hot but still bright green. Remove the bones. Taste and adjust seasonings, salt & pepper to your liking.
5. Scoop into bowls and enjoy while it’s piping hot. Leftovers can be stored in a covered mason jar in the fridge and reheated in the microwave.

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Notes

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

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